Heartbeat

"Now, Nabd, the moment seems right for my first betrayal of you: at last I have decided to write you. Some women are betrayed when we write about them; turning someone like you into language is, in a way, a betrayal.

After everything that happened, I am trying to stand at the boundary between you and me, and writing is my only way. I know I ask more of language than it can bear. The night in your eyes is beyond words; such darkness must be lived, not told. The dimple on your right cheek when you smile leaves language bewildered. Yet the attempt is worth making.

May Allah help a language that I am asking to become you."